The Senior events were held at Blue Coat School in Sonning which proved to be an excellent venue. It was comfortably able to hold 8 tables which meant all the senior events could be completed in one day, rather than needing a weekend as in previous years.

Wendy Porter put in a huge amount of time and effort to prepare the venue and the draws for the 11 events, as well as running the tournament on the day – and this despite the fact that her first grandchild was due to be delivered that day!

Unfortunately there were no entrants for the Ladies Singles, Ladies Doubles or Mixed doubles (apart from Wendy) so these events could not be run. For the other events, there were the inevitable late withdrawals, but this did allow some of the late entrants to be given entry in to some of the events.

This year’s Championships were run using some computer software which is specifically designed for sports tournaments. It included online entry for all events, which seemed to work well and allowed everyone to see who was entering each event on the days before the entry deadline. Once the seeding, the draws and the scheduling for each event had been completed, the new software also enabled this information to be made visible on the tournament website. This meant everyone could see the approximate timings of their scheduled matches and who their opponents would be.

As the events progressed throughout the day, the results were entered on the tournament software and periodically uploaded to the tournament website – so those competitors with smartphones (and those interested at home) could see the event results almost as they happened, see how each event was progressing and see who their next opponent would be.

After a withdrawal allowed Hari Gehlot’s late entry to the tournament, he won the Mens singles after being 2 games down to Krasi Ivanov in the final. Hari also beat Ian Cole to win the final of the Veterans Singles and Wendy Porter to win the Senior Veterans event. The Mens Doubles saw unexpected winners as Jon Willis and Marc Brent beat all of their opponents without losing an end, including Ian Cole and Joe Barraclough in the final. Melvyn Lovegrove took the Over 60s title having played a total of 18 matches throughout the day, while Eric Holmes (who played 14 times himself) finished his day by winning the final of the Ping Pong event.

Congratulations to all the winners and runners-up in each of the events, who are listed below, and thanks to everyone who came along and took part. Please look at the tournament website to see details of all the events that were run – the draws, the scores and all the associated statistics.

Due to having to vacate the venue by 5:30pm, the main finals could not be staged, which was a shame, but I don’t think it spoilt the day for anyone.

What did become apparent during the day was that some matches were being delayed by one or two people who seemed to be playing in every event! This caused some scheduling problems, so in future years the organisers may need to consider restricting the number of events a person can enter.

Many thanks to the various volunteers who helped on the day and ensured the venue was cleared on time. Special thanks to Emma & Joe Barraclough, who stayed late on Friday evening getting everything in place and arranging the refreshments, and to Duncan Groves who helped Wendy with match management and covered for her when she was playing.

But most of all, our thanks go to Wendy for everything she did to ensure the Senior and Junior events all ran so well at the weekend, when I know she would rather have been with her family.

Nick Lean

Report on Junior Events

The Junior tournament was held at Cippenham TTC on Sunday 12th February. It was an early start, but everyone turned up on time and the tournament started promptly at 9am. There was a good turnout with 23 players competing across the six events.

Wendy Porter did a great job of organising the tournament and the whole day ran very smoothly. The new method of running the tournament using the Tournament software was a success: entering results and uploading them to the Tournament website was a simple process and it was helpful to be able to see the draws and timings ahead of the day. The added bonus for someone like myself, who unfortunately had to leave just before the semis and finals were played, was that I could log on later from home and find out who had won.

Some great table tennis matches were played throughout the day. There were several well-fought five set matches and a few games that went in to the high teens before a final result was reached. What also stood out was the great sportsmanship shown amongst all the players throughout the day.

Congratulations to the winners of the events: Joe Barraclough (U21s and Junior Boys), Jamie Barlow (Cadet Boys and U13s), Johnson Xu (Youth Division) and Joe Barraclough/Adam Winterbottom (Junior Boys doubles). Well done to all runners-up (Jamie Barlow, Johnson Xu, Ralph Philips, Mo Cook, Dylan Cook and Rayaan Asghar/Jamie Barlow), and to everyone who took part in the day. A special mention goes to Rishika Desai who was the only girl to enter the tournament and therefore didn’t have a girls singles event to take part in, but she competed with true fighting spirit in all the boys events.

Many thanks to the various volunteers who helped on the day. Emma Barraclough, Emma Cook and Dan Cook who helped Wendy with keeping all the matches on track, and to the Juniors and parents who offered to umpire games throughout the day.

A big thanks to Wendy Porter who organised the event and worked tirelessly on the day, but must have been just secretly raring to get away to see her newly born first grandchild who’d arrived at 6pm the day before. Congratulations Wendy!

Louise Forster

Roll of Honour

Senior Events

Event

Winner

Runner-up

Mens Singles

Hari Gehlot

Krasi Ivanov

Mens Doubles

Jon Willis & Marc Brent

Ian Cole & Joe Barraclough

Veteran Singles

Hari Gehlot

Ian Cole

Senior Veteran Singles

Hari Gehlot

Wendy Porter

Over 60s Singles

Melvyn Lovegrove

Nick Lean

Division 1

Krasi Ivanov

Ian Cole

Division 2

Nigel Keedy

Zdzislaw Jerzmanski

Division 3

Lee Calcutt

Igor Sremac

Division 4

Marc Brent

Zoltan Keleman

Division 5

Jordan De Ste Croix

Clive Gold

Ping Pong

Eric Holmes

Harry Munro

Junior Events

Youth Division

Johnson Xu

Dylan Cook

U13 Boys Singles

Jamie Barlow

Mo Cook

Cadet Boys Singles

Jamie Barlow

Ralph Philips

Junior Boys Singles

Joe Barraclough

Johnson Xu

Junior Boys Doubles

Joe Barraclough & Adam Winterbottom

Rayaan Asghar & Jamie Barlow

U21 Singles

Joe Barraclough

Jamie Barlow

View all the Results

The draws and results for all events can be seen on the Tournament Website for each day: